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Crescent City Farmers Market Contributes $8.9 Million to Local Economy

On Saturday, August 1, 2009, at the corner of Magazine and
Girod Streets, freshly harvested green beans will change hands for
cash, as they have on so many Saturday mornings since the Crescent City
Farmers Market opened in 1995. On this particular Saturday, the
organizers of the farmers market, marketumbrella.org, will also share
news of how green beans impact greenbacks, with the release of their 2009 Economic Impact Study.

According to the study, the Crescent City Farmers Market, operating
twice weekly at two different locations, generates a combined economic
impact of $8.9 million for its vendors, host neighborhoods, and
surrounding region. The study's methodology, called SEED: the Sticky Economy Evaluation Device,
was developed by the Market’s sponsoring organization,
marketumbrella.org, to capture what Executive Director Richard McCarthy
describes as “an often surprising economic impact of the original
business incubator, the farmers market.”

The
numbers appear to support this claim: The twice-weekly Crescent City
Farmers Market attracts 98,600 visits from shoppers each year, which
results in gross combined receipts of $3.1 million. Further,
approximately 25% of market shoppers spend money at nearby businesses
when they visit the neighborhood, resulting in $1.8 million in
projected gross receipts at those businesses and an annual contribution
of $161,753 to local sales tax revenue.

McCarthy describes how “the very sight of tents and umbrellas gives the
impression of an informal and therefore insignificant economic
activity, whereas in fact it is highly efficient, enterprising, and
democratic.” USDA reports that as of 2008 there are 4,865 farmers
markets operating in the USA — a 170% increase in ten years.

In the greater New Orleans region, this growth is evident in nearly
every neighborhood. When the Crescent City Farmers Market began
operating in 1995, the French Market was the only place where consumers
might find an organized roster of local farmers. Now, on a weekly
basis, there are at least 12 markets where consumers can shop with
regional farmers and fishers. The USDA has designated the first week of
August as National Farmers Market Week to celebrate farmers markets as
institutions with a triple bottom-line impact– financial, human, and
social–on communities.

Working in tandem with the Farmers Market Coalition, marketumbrella.org
is developing a trio of tools to measure these impacts for a growing
field of markets. Its first tool, SEED, is being developed with support
from the F. B. Heron and Ford Foundations. Using the Bureau of Economic
Analysis’ RIMS II economic multiplier, marketumbrella.org has worked
with renowned pollster Ed Renwick to devise a customer-intercept survey
methodology to evaluate consumer behavior at markets. Still in its
pilot stage, SEED is a free, online measurement tool that has been used
by over 85 markets throughout the USA. In September 2009,
marketumbrella.org will release the SEED tool’s new version for all
markets to use to measure their economic impact.

Marketumbrella.org is a 501(c)(3) nongovernmental organization based in
New Orleans and operating globally to cultivate the field of public
markets for public good. With a staff of ten, the organization uses its
emblematic Crescent City Farmers Market as a platform for innovation,
learning, and sharing with this growing field. The Crescent City
Farmers Market is free and open to the public every Tuesday (9 am – 1
pm, 200 Broadway) and Saturday (8 am – 12 noon, 700 Magazine Street).